- Jobs in banking and the financial services industries continued to be among the most popular occupations of 2019.
- Despite their popularity, a report predicts that 1.3 million bank workers will lose their jobs or be reassigned due to automation.
- Banks have already begun investing in artificial intelligence, and recognize the technology will displace workers.
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Jobs in banking are some of the most sought after for job seekers — but plenty of roles may not be around much longer.
Algorithms that model prices or build portfolios could wipe out 6 million high-paying jobs in finance, according to Cornell University professor Marcos Lopez de Prado.
Lopez de Prado told the US House Committee on Financial Services that AI might not replace jobs entirely, but current finance employees aren't trained to work alongside new technology, Bloomberg reported.
Lopez de Prado's statement aligns with a 2019 report that revealed 1.3 million US finance jobs — particularly customer-service reps, financial managers, and compliance and loan officers — could disappear by 2030, according to a British insights firm IHS Markit. Brookings, too, recently found white-collar employees in tech and finance are more susceptible to AI job loss than social workers, teachers, or cooks.
How AI is set to disrupt the finance industry
Despite a year of scandals that entangled many of the country's largest banks, the desire to work at these companies remains high, according to a report by LinkedIn. Some of the more high-profile scandals include Deutsche Bank's alleged involvement in a global money-laundering scheme and accusations against Wells Fargo's auto-loan and mortgage practices.
Nonetheless, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase remain five of the most popular places to work in 2019. LinkedIn attributes the popularity to banks offering increasingly tech-focused jobs that attract talented software engineers and developers out of college.
"The reality is that if somebody wants to learn finance and strategy, these banks are still the places to be trained and developed," Heather Hammond, co-head of the global banking and markets practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, told LinkedIn.
Jobs in banking as a whole are some of the most expensive in the country. Starting analysts make $91,000 in base pay, while managing directors can earn almost $1 million after bonuses. In fact, the industry could add a whopping $512 billion in global revenue by 2020 with the use of intelligent automation, according to a 2018 report from Capgemini.
Major banks have already begun implementing AI
While the use of AI remains sparse, and the technology is still basic, a boost in revenue will increase the adoption of automation, Business Insider analyst Lea Nonninger reports.
Unfortunately for job seekers, banks' investment into automation is well under way. In fact, a detailed 2018 report from Business Insider Intelligence noted that banks are already using AI to mimic bank employees, automate processes, and preempt problems. JPMorgan is cleaning thousands of databases to make room for machine learning tech. Citi president Jamie Forese said in 2018 that robots could replace as many as 10,000 human jobs within five years.
Laura Barrowman, chief technology officer at the Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse, revealed the company is already retraining employees whose jobs have been displaced by AI: "Globally, if you look at cyber skills, I think there is a deficit," Barrowman told Business Insider's panel at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. "There is such a shortage of skills, and you need people who have that capability."